THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE CREATION OF POLITICAL AWARENESS OF YOUTHS IN LAGOS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Human beings have always had the need to communicate to aid decision making, because the only way to share the ideas that would eventually result in the decisions and policies is through communication. “Communication has been variously defined as the passing of information, the exchange of ideas, or the process of establishing a commonness or oneness of thought between a sender and a receiver.” (Belch & Belch, 2003)

In African societies, Chiefs would seat and meet to talk about the goings of their communities. Families would come together to discuss the right action to take in the face of conflict. Communication soon became an essential element in forums for decision making. These forums would discuss all sort of things, especially those things that would involve decision making.

“Communication has become a primary forum for the debate about our culture. Logically, then, the most powerful voices in the forum have the most power to shape our definitions and understandings.” (Baran, 2013)

Communication media evolved and policy making systems evolved with it. As communication evolved it became a concern to ensure that the communication process was effective. This would mean that every element involved (namely Sender, medium, receiver and feedback) were effective enough. Every available medium would be utilized until the one that allowed for effective communication for sharing of ideas would exist.

The challenge to find the media that would allow for members of a society to be aware of their governing events would continue for years, and Africa would not be exempted. Cultural innovations for political awareness in Nigeria would begin with the town criers and slowly move on to the newspaper. Newspapers were the first major medium involved in sharing of accounts of political events and ideas. The newspapers were created in order to give citizens the information they required to be involved in policy making. Henry Townsend established the first active newspaper system in 1859 titled ‘IweIroyin fun Awon Ara Egbaati Yoruba’

“From its debut in November 23rd 1859 with “IweIroyin fun Awon Ara Egbaati Yoruba” (Newspaper for the Egbas and Yorubas) the press has taken centre stage in matters affecting all spheres of individual life and collective existence including religion, education, economy and politics among others. The newspaper was actually noted to have educated the growing publics about history and politics of the time.” (Alawode & Adesanya, 2016)

The impact that newspapers had on the political awareness of Nigerians was astounding. Individuals were duly informed about events that had taken place far out of their reach. Information that may have been garbled during hearsay was now clearly described for every individual who could afford it.

The radio and Television soon followed closely behind, each medium more potent than the last. News of economics, business, politics, elections, appointments, removals and all other things in the socio-political spectrum were readily available. Unfortunately, every one of those mediums soon began to be weighed down by their own shortcomings. Excessive regulation, complicated technologies, delays in message delivery and gate keeping errors were just a few of the challenges that faced these media.

“The media (print and electronic) in Nigeria especially the privately-owned ones have always been strong instruments of sensitization and mobilization of people towards democracy even in the dark days of brutal military dictatorship. However, their reach was limited by such factors as government intimidation and harassments, logistics, limited resources and their elitist ownership and control” (Adegbola & Gearhart, 2019).

The late 90s brought Nigeria the gift of democracy. The relevance of political awareness to the synergy of functional societies had never been more dominant. Political awareness often acts as a preamble to political participation, both concepts being essential in the growth of Democracy in any society.

Political awareness sums a citizen’s level of information concerning the socio-political activities of their nation. It is the level of consciousness that individuals exhibit in relation to the political environment of their country, usually borne through a form of political socialization. The media is one of the most effective methods of political socialization.

Research has shown that media consumption promotes political engagement. News use influences political engagement by increasing political knowledge and perceived efficacy, while guiding citizens’ attitudes and judgments (Adegbola & Gearhart, 2019)

Another Innovation of the late 90s was the Internet. A network created for the instant transmission of messages from one point to the other. It was new at the time but already possessed many of the features that most traditional media lacked. Some scholars already began to foresee the advantages that it would pose for political forums and policy making.

“In the second version, the decentralization version, as early as 1956 psychologist Joseph C. R. Licklider, a devotee of Marshall McLuhan’s thinking on the power of communication technology, foresaw linked computers creating a country of citizens ‘informed about, and interested in, and involved in, the process of government’ He foresaw “home computer consoles” and television sets connected in a nationwide network. “The political process would essentially be a giant teleconference,” he wrote: ‘and a campaign would be a months-long series of communications among candidates, propagandists, commentators, political action groups, and voters” (Baran, 2013). The giant called Social media made its advent by early 2000s with the entry of My-space and Facebook. Social Media’s birth in the 21st century has transformed the interaction, communication and sharing of information between people throughout the world in. Social media refers to the integration of technology, telecommunications and social interactions, and the sharing of words, pictures, videos and audio.

The number of Nigerians who had access to social media and the internet as a whole began to grow steadily. People began to discover the opportunities social media created for them to connect with people who were far away and those close by, the career opportunities it formed and the ability to access information instantly.

Thus, the use of social media in politics has continued to grow in many parts of Africa including Nigeria since the 21st century. For instance, 2011 general elections marked a significant milestone in the use of social media for political communication in Nigeria. Motivated by President Barrack Obama’s successful use of Facebook to win the United States elections as the first black president, Nigerian politicians are indeed, gradually taking their campaigns to the social networking sites and other online platforms. Within the election period, political aspirants were disposing of all means to gear up their support base, following the realization that electioneering requires more than just handshakes and physical persuasion. (Chinedu-Okeke & Obi, 2016. p.7)

Social Media creates an avenue for individuals to express themselves and connect with many others with their messages and opinions without the constrains of complicated technology. These messages and Opinions soon became avenues for people to share their social opinions and messages.Social media and the internet now possessed the essentials of a medium that would aide political awareness and policy making. This leads to the question of whether social media could be consciously utilized to create Political awareness.

“The Internet is characterized by freedom and self-governance, which are also the hallmarks of true democracy. It is no surprise, then, that computer technology is often trumpeted as the newest and best tool for increased democratic involvement and participation.” (Baran, 2013.p.255)

Several media have succeeded in creating political awareness. Television and newspaper have been primed as the most popular media for gathering political information, but with the advent of a media system that allowed for everyone to access information instantly and share their opinions it creates the opportunity for political institutions to consciously use the new media to create political awareness.

Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are just a few media that have proven their relevance in sharing information for the growth of political awareness and participation.  Research investigating the relationship between media use and political action in Nigeria found that students primarily accessed news via social media, but newspaper readership was the only form of media use that predicted voting (Tesunbi& Nwoye, 2014)

If Social media has clearly shown to have so many opportunities for information sharing without all of the hampers that traditional media have been limited by, then it is important to discover if it can impact political awareness and how it can be done. It would then provide an alternative to mainstream media and aid the growth of political awareness.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The diffusion of innovations in our societies have led to the wide acceptance of the internet and social media by the public in Nigeria. The internet is fast developing as a communication medium. Social Networking and the Internet enter into the world space in the late 90s with the email system. Years passed before the term ‘Social media’ was coined to refer to web applications that allowed individuals to connect with several others instantly. The potential for Social media to become the solution to all of the problems that traditional media had was soon discovered and it soon became one of the more popular media systems. Countries like Nigeria soon became highly mobilized, with millions of Nigerians actively connected.

The researcher will therefore need to identify how consciously social media can affect political awareness, in contrast to other media. This would mean trying to find out how Social media has influenced youths’ political awareness and what social media tools are most effective in creating political awareness in Lagos.

In the past political institutions in Nigeria have had issues with political growth, with political awareness as an obstacle. The problem arises from the nature of political socialization in Nigeria and how limited the process can be in many regions. If Social media can be identified as a good alternative for the conscious creation of political awareness then it would solve the problems of political communication for several political institutions as well as create opportunities

This paper focuses on whether Social media can be consciously used as a major tool for political creating political awareness, in the stead of other tools for political socialization.

1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The primary aim of this study is to determine whether Social media can be consciously used as a major tool for creating political awareness. Thus the following objectives;

1. To examine the level of social media use amongst youths in Lagos State.

2. To study the relationship between social media use and political awareness.

3. To determine the influence of Social media on the level of Political awareness amongst youths in Lagos.

4. To determine what Social media platform is most influential for creating Political Awareness in Youths in Lagos.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following research questions guide this study;

1. How widely is social media being used in Nigeria?

2. What percentage of youths are informed of political activities through Social Media?

3. Which social media tools are used most in creating political awareness in Nigeria?

4. How effective is Social Media in creating Political awareness?

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This research study will delve into the conflict of identifying a suitable medium for conscious dissemination of political information amongst Nigerian youths, and perhaps other African countries as well. The research will also open opportunities for political institutions, namely the government, regulatory agencies, election committees and even political activists to communicate with the public and actively create political content. This study will also provide solutions to the communication problems of political communication in Nigeria. Finally, the study could also possibly disclose faults in the Social media and Political communication models that have previously made youths in Nigeria politically vulnerable, and thus invite the creation of appropriate regulation to fix these fissures.

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of this research is limited to the Lagos state because of the large population of the state as well as the number of active mobile users in the state. The study is limited to the youths in Lagos due to the large percentage of the population that is youth and their mobile activity.

1.7 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The only limitation faced by the researcher during the course of this study was insufficient time to delve deeper into the research.

1.8 OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS

·         SOCIAL MEDIA: Interactive forms of media that allow users to interact with and publish to each other, generally by means of the Internet.

·         POLITICS: the activities and affairs involved in managing a state or a government.

·         POLITICAL AWARENESS: The level of consciousness an individual exhibits in respect to political events and activities.

POLITICAL COMMUNICATION: Political communication is a subfield of communication and political science that is concerned with how information spreads and influences politics and policy makers, the news media and citizens.

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